Wednesday, February 27, 2013

So just a couple of weeks ago, I had a chance to spend a week junking in Idaho, around the Boise area.

I found this booth in the Antique World Mall there and loved it.

She had lots of shades of white and natural beiges and greys ... the lovely aged shades that we love!! She also has a knack for display!

Another booth at the mall had these awesome price tags ... I just love finding new (to me) ideas for display in antique malls far from home, then when I adopt them, I don't feel like such a copy cat. And of course there's the vintage goodies I manage to gather to bring home as well.

These pictures are from the Shabby House, also in the Boise area. I love the style of this shop and was so disappointed that I got there so close to closing that I missed seeing all the tent-sheds full of vintage goodness in the back this time.

I still managed to gather a few things from the main store in the 15 minutes I had to shop, and there is always the next time to look forward to, right?

My dear husband and I managed to hit around twenty antique stores and second hand stores during the week we spent in the north, we saw lots of vintage yummies, but the yummiest thing I fell in love with was brand new! That's unusual for me ...

Here I am with Charlotte just minutes after she was born. It was a great trip and I have wonderful memories and hundreds of pictures too!! Welcome dear Charlotte!

Monday, February 25, 2013

I have been enjoying the month of love so much, that I hate to take down Valentines decor ... but with Easter next month, its time!!

This sweet wreath took a whole package of coffee filters to make. I stacked three together, then pinched them into flowers and used a hot glue gun to attach them to a vine type wreath from the dollar store.

Then I chose these antique Easter postcards from the huge selection available on Graphics Fairy. I tried to choose designs that would allow me to add the glue and glitter letters, swirling them around the designs, as you see. Next I cut them out, and glued them onto old manila tags, adding rickrack and trimming the bottoms. I used old silver garland to suspend the tags, figuring it would bring out the silver glitter of the letter. I am pretty happy with this simple wreath ... and what a bargain. $1 for coffee filters, and $1 for the wreath base, the few tags, hot glue, glitter, and colored ink together were less than a dollar, I am sure, for a total of $3!!

Welcome Spring and Easter, with all its chicks, birds and bunnies ... Now if I could just have something other than snowy forecasts, I would be perfectly content.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Just wanted to take a minute out of my crazy February to celebrate George Washington's birthday, February 22, 1732.

Because I have a mother that was invested in family history, and accumulating long lists of ancestors, I happen to know that George Washington in my second cousin, six times removed.

I found this great old print of him in a stack of antique ephemera ... you can see to thr right that the corner is bent , and there were actually some tears I trimmed off. It was a premium, probably from a magazine subsription, in 1876, during the our country's centennial.

I looked for a period frame for a long time, before finding this aesthetic style frame at the antique mall where I work. I loved it and thought it looked good enough to be original.

The picture has been hanging in my library for many years, but this year I thought it would be fun to decorate it for the big day.

Since I loved all the rosettes that the rebels wore in the latest movie of Les Miserables, I thought it would be the perfect detail to help me honor my cousin's birthday. As always, I am indebted to Graphics Fairy for the awesome silhouette that makes up the middle of the rosette.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Hello blog land friends ... I thought I would take a moment and share a display booth at the antique mall that I did with another dealer last month.

I thought it turned out so crisp and yet romantic, that I wanted to save it in my 'archives'. Of course the colors make one think of classic Wedgwood, the perfect color scheme for January!

When she decided we should change out our store's Christmas decorated booth, she wanted to go with all white, but sadly, or perhaps gladly, yummy old shabby white painted furniture has been so popular that we didn't have enough of it to fill this booth. Then she thought by adding a couple of pale blue pieces we could pull it off.

What a happy accident, the blue and white painted furniture along with the blue and white pottery combine for such a happifying look! Everyone who comes in comments, and we have been selling lots of goodies from it as well, which of course is the point. The sweet tea set above found a new home today!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Just back from spending the weekend in lovely scenic Ogden, Utah at the Acorn Antique Show. The show was a great success ... I sold every single piece of lavender glass shown to the right, to five different customers!

Only one of the antique Victorian syrup pitchers above found a new home, but so did the sweet punch set ... The mother's pictures and mottoes will all be making their appearance at Treasures in a few days.

It was so fun to see Abby, a former Acorn Show dealer, and kind of an icon, she always dressed up in period clothing to do the show, and this weekend, she came in full regalia to meet up with old friends, and do some serious shopping.

This gentleman dropped by and checked out my toy train, he found it to be working and complete save one axle, (the wheels off that axle were even in the box) He was so pleased he took it home.

This charming antique pillow was purchased by my friend Stacy. It is two embroidered doilies, that have had pink stitched eyelets place at intervals through which lovely old ribbon is run to hold it together. I have a suspicion that it just might end up at Stacy's Shabby Shoppe sometime, what a charmer!!

At the end of the show, when the action was tapering off, my friend Cathie and I did a little 'shopping' around the show ... we surprised dealers as we added their goodies to Cathie's amazing vintage shopping cart. It was a great joke!! Cathie is shown here with Heidi, the Acorn Show's organizer.

The show was a lot of fun, but probably the sweetest moment was when my friend and blog follower Carole stopped by and fell in love with this pillow. I had commissioned the pillow to be made from an antique quilt I loved, but which was falling to threads. I displayed it in a guest room, which has since become my craft room ... so with no home of its own, I added it to my stash for the show. Its just so lovely to see something that I so love, and hate to let go of, find a new home, with someone I enjoy and who I know will appreciate it as much as I did. Thanks Carole!! The photo was sent to me by Carole, showing the pillow in its new home. What a charming shabby chair!!

Friday, February 15, 2013

Today was a busy day, in the middle of a busy week ... Of course I always operate best under pressure, and with an antique show coming up this weekend I was casting my eye about for things that just needed a bit of tweaking to make them ready to go to the antique show. In this case it was this sweet metal tall bucket below ... loved the soft green, just needed to be punched up a bit.

This French perfume label from Graphics Fairy, needed nothing but enlarging to make it perfect for the project.

I printed it off, trimmed it and decoupaged it in place ... I thought it was very charming. It is shown here with a couple of other French transfer items that are also going to the Acorn Antique show!

I have done many different Antique Shows here in Utah, over the years, and the Acorn Show has always been my favorite (flea.o.logy excepted, of course) both as a seller and as a buyer. There are lots of great sellers, many from out of state, with some of the best antique show prices you will see anywhere. Come by and say hello if you manage to sneak away and visit the show!! Thanks and have a lovely weekend.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

... and we are off to the Ball! The Regency Valentine's Ball, that is, sponsored by the Jane Austen Society of North America, Utah Chapter at the Masonic Temple in Salt Lake City on February 9th. My daughter Becca and her husband Brady attended with us.

Dance instruction, in classic period 'Country Dances', was provided by the group, Old Glory Vintage Dancers. Some of the dances were confusing, some were a ton of fun, but all were very pretty to watch.

Then, given the fact that the ball was hosted by the Jane Austen Society, I was not a bit surprised to run into Uncle and Aunt Gardiner during our first set. What charming people they are, just as I had always suspected, and perhaps the classiest people in the room, even given the talk of their living in Cheapside ... (errrr was it St. George?)

Of course meeting Bingley's sisters was definitely the visual high light of the evening. It was also fun to stop halfway through the evening for dinner, just as we would have at a real regency ball. Kudos to Aspen and the Utah chapter of JASNA, for 'A job well done."